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Mga Geo Rallye

(ratings out of 5 stars. 1 is easiest, 5 is hardest)Difficulty: Terrain:

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This is Maine’s first Geo-rallye adventure and since you may not know what a Geo-Rallye is I’ll explain.

First of all it is not a FTF event !!! Yes some caches will surely have a FTF on them, but that is not the object. The object of this event is to find as many of the placed caches, locationless caches, and other geo targets that are laid out, before the timed finish.

This event, put on by MGA with myself “Hoamdezinahs”, and my good friend “Gobler” as the rallye co-ordinators, will cover approximately 250 to 300 miles of Southern Maine. It will be approximately 14-15 hours of nonstop geo-caching excitement. We are putting out between 20 and 24 (log-able) caches in 5 counties. Add to that, a bunch of locationless caches, and other geo-scavenger hunt items that have to be found, and it promises to be a fun, exciting, and very tiring day. You will be scored points for every cache, locationless cache, and geo target that you find.

The event will end for a bbq steak supper, awards & prizes at a secret lodge on Sebago Lake. You may come to the meeting at the finish even if you do not enter the rallye. The cost for the meal is between $13.00 - 15.00, (don’t know for sure yet, will in a couple weeks) per person, if you want it. We need a head count and the money for the meal in advance.

Entry and Rallye Rules:
1) The contribution to participate in the rallye is $40.00 per team. This contribution pays for prizes, awards, and expenses related to the event. (No-one makes any profit on the event) Registration forms will be emailed on request. The participation contribution and meal fees are due when you send in your registration form, and is non-refundable.
2) Teams can consist of no more than four persons. (No exceptions)
3) The design of the rallye is such that participation is limited to 30 teams, and anyone wishing to enter must pre-register before the end of July. (If you wait till then there may not be a slot available for you.)
4) All teams will be e-mailed a packet of cache info and co-ords at sunset the night before the event.
5) You will have until sunrise the next morning to plan your attack. Hopefully it won’t take you more than a couple hours.
6) Teams can start anywhere they want in the southern Maine area at daylight on the morning of the event. There is no advantage or disadvantage as to where you start. It will end at 4:30 that afternoon at the final co-ords. There will be a “check in” when you arrive and you will be deducted points for every minute that you are late.
7) All caches that you have to find will be less than 3/10 mile from the vehicle parking and no more than a #2.5 hide. Locationless caches will be found along the route. Caches placed will be a combination of ammo boxes, lock and lock containers, and 35 mm containers.
8) All of the cache finds, both real and locationless, must be verified by a digital photo of the team (less the one taking the pix), with said cache in hand, or locationless item in the pix (in daylight).
9) Teams will be scored points for each cache found, each locationless cache found, and each geo scavenger item found.
10) You will have a scorecard in your packet to score yourself as you progress through the day.
11) A scoreboard will be posted at the finish so that you can compare your score with other teams.
12) Prizes and trophies, will be given out to the entrants. Even if you do not compete you will be eligible to win door prizes.
13) It is mandatory that all people have a fun time.

All cache information will be emailed the night before at sunset, and will include the town and the approximate location (ie. Street location, boat launch, town park, etc.) for the caches. You should be able to layout a route with a Delorme Maine Atlas. Some gpsr’s allow you to plot a route.

Items needed for the event:
Minimum: GPSR, Maine Atlas, water and snacks, clipboard, pens and or pencils, headache pills.

Prepared: A laptop with a mapping program, and either a vehicle plug-in or 110/12v converter for your car. Once you put in the cache co-ords and your own location it will plot a route for you.

Geo rallye prepared: Same as prepared, but with a gpsr enabled laptop and a mapping program.

If you only have a team of two people, and want to do this with another couple, please let us know. We will see if we can set you up with another couple about the same age, in the same area. That way you’ll be sharing expenses, and 4 people searching makes finding caches faster.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN ENTRY FORM PLEASE SEND ME AN E-MAIL REQUEST THROUGH MY PROFILE AND I'LL SEND YOU ONE. PLEASE CHECK THE BOX TO INCLUDE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WITH YOUR MESSAGE.

If all caches are 3/10 of a mile from the vehicle parking then we can walk to all of them or is it suppose to say 3 to 10 miles?

If we do not care about the prizes then can we still do this without paying the required $40.00 registration fee and just do it along with everyone else and not get the trophy or is the $40.00 required.

If all caches are 3/10 of a mile from the vehicle parking then we can walk to all of them or is it suppose to say 3 to 10 miles?

If we do not care about the prizes then can we still do this without paying the required $40.00 registration fee and just do it along with everyone else and not get the trophy or is the $40.00 required.

Hey Rick;
I may be able to answer those for you:

The caches will be, at most, 3/10ths of a mile from where you (should) park your car. You may find some caches you can literally grab while sitting in your geo-vehicle as well.

The forty dollars is PER TEAM, not per person. If you put together a team of four (as is the hope and honestly, the best way to attack it) then it's only ten bucks per person. For twelve hours of fun, that's a VERY hard deal to beat. Less than a dollar per hour per person : )

The more people that participate the better the prizes, and the more there will be of them. 100% of the money collected is going into this ralley.

As for dinner, that is up to you. The per plate price is right on the level of what the costs are for the dinner itself. John nor M.G.A have anything at all to do with the dinner, other than collecting the money and a head count for the non-profit organization that is actually holding the dinner for us.

As for the "Can we play without paying?" question, you'll have to contact hoamdezinahs on that one. : )

The caches will be, at most, 3/10ths of a mile from where you (should) park your car. You may find some caches you can literally grab while sitting in your geo-vehicle as well.

The forty dollars is PER TEAM, not per person. If you put together a team of four (as is the hope and honestly, the best way to attack it) then it's only ten bucks per person. For twelve hours of fun, that's a VERY hard deal to beat. Less than a dollar per hour per person : )

The more people that participate the better the prizes, and the more there will be of them. 100% of the money collected is going into this ralley.

As for dinner, that is up to you. The per plate price is right on the level of what the costs are for the dinner itself. John nor M.G.A have anything at all to do with the dinner, other than collecting the money and a head count for the non-profit organization that is actually holding the dinner for us.

As for the "Can we play without paying?" question, you'll have to contact hoamdezinahs on that one. : )

This does sound like fun but I have never been to an event where you had to pay to participant in an event. This sounds just like the same thing they did at the Mt. Agamenticus Caching event last month and they had some great prizes and it was free. I am not complaining don’t get me wrong. Every event is different I guess. I am just worried this may detour some people from attending. But I guess time will tell.

My guess is it is the newly formed association of "Southern" Maine geocachers they've been talking about. I assume it stands for "Maine Geocachers Association"
By no means a true representative of all Maine goecachers.

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This is Maine’s first Geo-rallye adventure and since you may not know what a Geo-Rallye is I’ll explain.

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No thanks, have fun folks but this just ain't our cup of tea. We'll continue to enjoy our walks in the woods and be happy with it. The last thing that I would consider fun would be having to wait in line at a cache while those before me signed the log. Then I suppose I'd feel hurried to sign it so those behind me didn't have to wait very long. But like I said.....to those that enjoy this type of caching......have fun!

No thanks, have fun folks but this just ain't our cup of tea. We'll continue to enjoy our walks in the woods and be happy with it. The last thing that I would consider fun would be having to wait in line at a cache while those before me signed the log. Then I suppose I'd feel hurried to sign it so those behind me didn't have to wait very long. But like I said.....to those that enjoy this type of caching......have fun!

Smitty, I would have to agree with you on this. I did not really paticipate in the one that was like this at the Mt. Agamenticus Caching event but I helped one team. There were groups of people that were loooking for the same cache at the same time and it was very award to say the least. I would not like doing something like that and have to pay $40 to do it. Granted this may be different and may even be better. So I am not totally writing this one off. I have marked it on my calendar and if I am free August 19th I will give it a whirl and at least drive down there.

$10.00 registration fee (assuming 3 others would even want to go with me )
$45.00 (300 miles at 20 mpg at 3.00 per gallon, thats not even the ride down and back) yeah, I've rounded it up but I way underestimated the mileage.
$3.00 (tolls unless I sneak down the long way)
$30.00/person for meals and snacks this includes the BBQ (probably more because I like my snacks)
$45.00 daycare because the girls would not stay interested for the duration, unless my wife doesn't want to go and the $45.00 will have go towards making up my spending a day geocaching .